[Feigen] Rockets consider amnestying Scola, as talks with the Magic grow "serious"

As bima tweeted earlier, it would be pointless to amnesty him if Asik and Lin are matched, which it looks like will happen.

I think a realistic lineup would be the following...

Howard/Harrelson
Scola/Motiejunas
Parsons/White, Jones, or Morris (at least one of them would be gone)
Richardson/Lamb (I'm hoping he stays)
Brooks/Douglas

I just don't know how good that team is, especially with pretty week PGs. I'd rather us sign Sessions as a starter. Either way though, a follow up trade would absolutely have to be made in order to keep Howard for more than a year.

 

1st round exit

 

Woj on Y! Radio last night(or sometime in the last 24 hours):

-Howard clearly is not going to the Nets, with them re-signing Brook Lopez to an extension. Right now, Houston is a team in the near-term, if there is a deal to be done soon, Houston is the favorite. There is no perfect deal for the Magic. They want Bynum but they need a commitment that he'll re-sign, and so far, he won't do that. The Lakers would also find trouble finding draft picks to give Orlando. Houston has, it doesn't have the one centerpiece like Bynum or to a lesser extent Lopez but it does give Orlando a chance to get multiple picks, get rid of some contracts, Houston would absorb those. Houston is looking for a deal for Luis Scola. They could amnesty him. I think if there is a deal to be done in the next several days, Houston has put themselves in position. They have been relentless in going after Howard. Their GM Daryl Morey and their owner, they've made a commitment that to get this kind of player, they're willing to move heaven and earth and feel like this is their one way to get a top player and then they gotta convince him to stay. Right now, I would say they're the favorites but if this drags into the season, other teams may look into it. Maybe more teams get involved. I do think Orlando is motivated to get this over with before a new coach comes in. They don't want a coach to inherit this. They don't want this hanging over the team, their fans. They are obviously weary of it. Orlando wants to set the path they're going to go which is young, build around a young core and start a full rebuild.

-They got plenty of time. They'll hire a coach here in the next few weeks. Orlando, Hennigan just took over a week prior to the draft. He's obviously been engaged in talks with a lot of teams. He's talked to Howard a couple of times. Howard made it clear again that he wanted a trade and a trade to Brooklyn. I know they want this over soon but at the same time, Hennigan can't allow himself to make a bad trade here. This is the most important trade he's going to make as a GM. A franchise changing trade. He's trying to take the time to find the best possible deal. You can always maybe get a little more, get a little more but at some point you have to pull the trigger and that's the point he'll be coming to here in Orlando.

[Talks about Kaman/Collison/Jones/Mavs]

-Cuban will not invest a lot of money in long term contracts. He'd like to be in the market for the Howard/Paul tandem. Both could be available. The drum beat will grow about those 2 teaming up somewhere. Atlanta will try but it will be a tough sell to them. Dallas is the market and Cuban is the owner that could come in and potentially join Dirk. That will be in play based on how this plays out for Howard here coming up but Howard's goal has been to get to NY or LA where he could max value on a sneaker value. A deal for him is worth maybe 2 times more in LA or NY than it would be anywhere else. Those markets are probably closed off to him right now. Dallas, their goal is to be in the market for those guys next summer.

[Talks about Ray Allen/Miami]

 

I think the Rockets are leaking this amnesty threat to pressure the Lakers into taking Orlando's bad contracts. The Lakers don't have the picks or young prospects to get it done on their own. I reckon they're the team with the most to lose if Scola is amnestied.


HOU: Bynum, McRoberts (expiring)


ORL: Gasol (2yrs), Martin (expiring) + picks and young players from the Rockets


LAL: Dwight, Turkoglu, J-Rich, Scola

 

Good post. You might have switched me back to the DH at any cost scenario.

 

I see this happening, or Dallas because other big market teams are fully loaded. I was hesitant on taking Dwight, but now that the Nets are done with their ideal player, we have a chance of doing big things. For CP3 not signing an extension with the Clippers, it gives us a big, big chance of that happening. And I don't see Nets better than Bulls, Celtics, Heat, or Knicks, so if Dwight sees the Nets struggle, he might want to stick around.

 

This whole 'clearing the decks' to provide cap space for a Dwight move is so high risk. To put it simply, all we're getting with Dwight is one year to convince him to stay. This is like blowing all your savings to buy a 200 carat diamond ring so you can ask a girl to marry you. The same girl who's rejected you in public already and claims she doesn't want to ever stay with you. Morey is like that desperate creep who just won't give up.

 

Manny Harris just makes plays. Just a scrimmage, I know.

 

I think Les should be given alot of credit for his commitment to have a team that can compete.

 

So aelliot has convinced me that taking on the bad contracts is not the end of the world. But what I'm still not convinced of is if giving up all of our picks and young assets, along with forgoing a year or two of tanking to get dwight will put us in a better position to win a championship than going with the youth movement.

It's two years before we are contending with Howard, and that's a best case scenario. if we go with the youth movement we will likely have 3 lotto picks in the next two years, one which is likely to be top 5. So let's assume that we get at least one franchise player out of the draft over the next two years, and that one of our current young assets also develops into a star. In two years we've got two star building blocks and all of the cap room in the world.

I think I like this scenario better than the Dwight scenario. We're set up better for the long term in this scenario.

 

I really don't understand most people here on Clutchfans. Why do you guys want to risk it and give up all our young talent and high lottery picks for bad contract and a diva that will leave Houston next season no matter what. Look, there are no other FA out there the Rockets can sign to play alongside Dwight HOward.

Please people, get that through your head. The best FA this year is Deron Williams and he just sign a huge contract with the Nets. Many people keep saying its better to risk having a top center play here for a season than to have high lottery picks... I mean, do you guys really think that's better? You think that when the Rockets lose Howard to Free Agency, the Rockets would just rebuild again the next season? Well guess what, they will be stuck with bad contracts and no lottery picks while Orlando has our young talents and our lottery picks.

So how would Houston rebuild if they gave all their lottery picks to Orlando? Plus Dwight Howard would not carry this team anywhere at all. Maybe the Rockets make it to the playoffs with him but thats it. They won't be able to do any better than a first round exit anyway. Dwight Howard has shown he cannot carry a team on his own. Plus he would be basically playing with some of his old teammates anyway so whats the point of him staying here. The Rockets cannot convince him to stay at all. He deliberately said he do not want to be in HOuston but for some reason, you guys just don't care.

Most of you guys including Morey for some reason keep believing that he would somehow change his mind and stay in a Rockets uniform when the Rockets have no other star player to play alongside him that only season he was traded here. I just don't understand why risk all that if the Rockets have a better chance to rebuild now than delay another 1-2 years knowing that Howard would not take this team that far so it is just a waste of short coming season. I feel like most of you guys just care about having an all star player represent Houston in the ALL Star weekend next year. To me, I don't care about if we have an all star or not next year. As long as the Rockets build their team patiently with young players with high potential. In order to be a great team, the Rockets have to be patience. They cannot just throw everything away just because they want a star that's available even if they know he would never resign with Houston. This is much worst than when Houston traded all those players for Charles Barkley in the mid 90s. The difference is, the Barkley deal is actually better because Charles Barkley wanted to be in Houston while Dwight doesn't want anything to do with Houston. This is just a stupid IDEA. Seriously people, get that through your head and really rethink that again, is it a good idea to throw all of our lottery picks to Orlando and our young prospect for a one and done diva and a few bad contracts?

You guys please tell me if our young prospects and our lottery picks are worth a single playoff appearance, a probable playoff first round exit, bad contracts that will hindered for the next few years, and delaying our rebuilding process.... Seriously just for one year of a few extra highlight reels and a first round exit... If the Rockets do this trade and give up all our lottery picks and our young prospect, all of you guys and the Rockets organization will regret this in JUNE 2013. You guys would probably feel like Cavs fan during The Decision while Orlando had the better ending with probably 2 high lottery picks, young talents, and cap space.

 

Dallas moves and implications

Dallas is clearly gearing up to go after Howard and Paul next year. Look at Kaman and Collison deals all tying up only year of cap and setting them up for a big splash next year. This really gives me pause about our strategy if we take on bad contracts and can not sign a second piece then Howard might have an incentive to bolt. We might be better off going after Bynum.

 

What worries more than anything is the possibility of Morey trading future picks and then Dwight leaves. Then we are a lottery team with no pick, and that is the official ninth circle of NBA Hell.

 

If Dwight is still saying he won't re-sign with Houston when the trade deadline comes, then you can move him for Bynum.

 

I think there is the possibility that Orlando would take Scola if they could get him for about $4 million per. That would make him a value and a tradable contract to a playoff team come the trade deadline. Orlando gets him on the cheap to mentor the kids for half a season then flips him for a first rounder. However, to get there, it requires an amnesty on the Rox part. Would be better if Morey could find a team now to give him an expiring or absorb Scola into their cap space and give back a late first rounder.

 

Completely agree. Rep'd.

 

I appreciate rileydog's analysis; still, DO NOT WANT DHO OR BYNUM! How many injured superstars does this franchise need to take on? The more youngsters we play, the greater the chance one or two of them will up their games. Let's go the OKC route sooner rather than later.

Also, Scola deserves far more respect than he's getting from Morey. SMHID.

 

Incorrect thinking on MULTIPLE levels.

1) There is a better chance that Dwight chooses to re-sign here than that we get a top lottery pick and they pan out to be a superstar anytime in the next 5 years.

2) You haven't seen the structure of any deal. You can't assume it will only be a first round exit until you know what our team is going to look like around Howard.

3) We're almost definitely not going to give up ROCKETS lottery picks to make this deal. I can almost guarantee it will be built around some combination of prospects/salary relief/Toronto and Dallas draft picks. If Dwight leaves we will be able to do the rebuilding it seems some of you will only be satisfied if we do (I swear some of you want to suck and will accept no other outcome).

 

People, Howard is possibly the most valuable player in the NBA, after Lebron of course, for win share. He is by far and away the best center in the NBA over the last decade. His contribution to the defense is impossible to overstate, and he is an 18/12 center at worst. Howard is the difference between just missing the playoffs and being a top 4 seed. Just look at Orlando's performance over the last few years.

If the Rockets obtain him they probably are looking at a top 4 seed in the West. If not they are a high lottery team. The guy is a probable HOF'er.

 

Lol @ the people assuming 100% Dwight will leave.